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Releasing the Brothers

Eeeks! I had got complaints, but I hadn’t realized it had been nearly two weeks since I had posted! Sorry, it’s been fast-times in the world of VApps, and at the moment, I’m writing to you from my best friend’s place in Paris.

Alright, so about a month ago, I was fortunate enough to attend the album release concert for The Barr Brothers. The Brothers have been a big hit on this blog. For previous posts click here (coincidentally a photo of Paris) and here. Seeing them live was an absolute treat. The concert was at La Tulipe, a gorgeous old venue built in 1913. The sound quality was fantastic and the lighting beautiful, often including interesting projections behind the band members.

The Barr Brothers are masters of their instruments, including a fantastic harpist who playfully interweaves her line with the guitar’s. However, the most intriguing technique of the Brothers is probably their “string bow technique”. You can hear this sound used throughout their album, including today’s featured track “Ooh, Belle” and their popular “Beggar in the Morning.” He takes pieces of thread, ties them to the guitar and then pulls them tight to produce a croaky sound. I’ll link through a video of Brad Barr exhibiting this so you can see what I’m talking about. In the final number, he gave out the spools of thread and had the audience play the guitar for him, as shown in the photo above. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen at a concert.